A Life Undone
by kylie90210
Summary: Stacey McGill had everything, until the start of her Junior year. Now her boyfriend is going off to College, her friends are pairing off and dealing with their own issues, and Stacey's Mom is seeing someone new. Dealing with change was never so hard...
1. Chapter One

Chapter One

Stacey sat on the stairs of her front stoop, her arms wrapped around her body as a cool breeze unexpectedly passed through. She barely paid it any attention, however, her eyes glued to the car now cruising down her street, toward her house. It pulled up out front, and after a few seconds the door opened, and Stacey stood up, making her way toward the car.

She didn't pause as she went straight into Sam's arms, and they stood there next to his car, in an embrace so tight, the cool breeze didn't stand a chance of getting in between them.

"I wish you didn't have to go," she said, her voice muffled with her face against his shoulder.

Sam pulled back, and looked down at her, "I wish you could come with me," he said, his familiar crooked smile warming her, until she suddenly realised she wouldn't be seeing it every day anymore.

Stacey looked away, and leaned back against his chest.

They stood there, in the same position, until Sam pulled away again, and grabbing her hand led them to Stacey's front porch, and the rocking chair Maureen had purchased a few years earlier.

They sat in it as they always did, Stacey on Sam's lap, her thighs draped across his in a criss cross.

She played with the chain around his neck, the one she had given him for his seventeenth birthday, which he had worn every day since.

"So," she started, with false bravado in her voice, "when do you start classes?"

Sam shrugged, "in about a week, I think. You go back to school about then, right?" he asked, squeezing her thigh reassuringly. She nodded.

"We'll both be so busy, I'm sure it'll be no time until we see each other again," he said in what she assumed was meant to be a reassuring way, but it only hurt more.

"Sam…" she started, but was unable to bring herself to say it. She looked away, back toward his car.

"What Stace?" he asked, turning her face gently so she was looking at him.

Stacey sighed, and brought her hand up to play with the back of his hair, curling it around her fingers.

"What if…" she bit her lip, not wanting to say it, partly because she knew what Sam would say, and partly because she knew that his answer would not abate her fears.

He looked at her like he knew what was coming, but didn't say anything, giving her time.

"What if you meet someone?" she asked, not able to look at him.

Instead of answering directly, Sam sighed. "Stacey, how long have we been together?" he asked her, his face expressionless.

She frowned, "almost a year."

Sam nodded, "but it feels like forever, right? I mean, we've always been… together, even when we've been apart. This is no different," he said, pulling her toward him.

Stacey rested her chin on his shoulder, and thought about what Sam had said.

Yes, she had liked him since she was twelve, and first moved to Stoneybrook. And yes, they had dated on and off in Middle School. And they'd been on again since her sophmore year. But they had never faced a test quite like this before.

Stacey had always felt insecure dating a senior, but Sam had always seemed to have eyes only for her.

But that was when he knew all the girls he went to school with. Stacey knew it would be a different story with new, hot college girls.

College girls who were experienced and willing to give Sam what she hadn't yet.

Who wanted a clingy high school girlfriend, who wasn't willing to sleep with you, and who had only fooled around with you a couple of times, when you could sleep with all the college girls- make that college women- you wanted?

Stacey realised she'd been silent for awhile, and looked back at Sam. He was studying her, the hurt in his eyes now obvious, and suddenly, she felt bad. This was their last time together for who knew how long, and she was ruining it with her insecurity.

She smiled at him, and nodded. Leaning forward, she kissed him, to reassure him, to reassure herself, that she trusted him. Soon the kiss became far more intense and passionate than it usually did, unless they were alone in Sam's room. If Sam was surprised, he didn't show it, meeting Stacey's intensity immediately.

The kiss seemed to last for years, until at last, Sam pulled back, groaning.

"You can't do that to me Stace. It's not fair," he said, rubbing his face.

"Well… maybe… we should take things further," she said, not quite sure how to put into words what she wanted to do for him, with him.

Sam's jaw practically dropped, "are you – do you mean…?" he trailed off, leaving the question hanging in between them.

Stacey took a deep breath, and nodded. Sam stared at her, studying her again, before shaking his head, "Stacey, we can't. Not now," he said, sighing.

Stacey felt her face heat up, and she got off Sam's lap quickly, walking to lean against the porch railing.

"Fine, I guess you'd rather wait to be with some hot college girl, right?" she asked spitefully, the humiliation she felt making her blood boil.

Sam got up, and walked over to her quickly, before she could walk off. She turned away, unable to look at him.

"Stacey," he said, his voice firm, "how many times have I told you, I'm not interested in anyone else? College, high school, the elderly, whoever," he gave her a small smile, but she didn't meet his gaze.

"Trust me Stace, if I weren't leaving in an hour, I'd be carrying you up those stairs right about now," he said, his voice earnest.

She finally looked at him, a small smile creeping across her face. "Really?" she asked in a small voice.

Sam gave her a look, "how long have I wanted to be with you?" he asked her, stroking her cheek, "but I love you too much to be with you, and then leave you straight away."

Stacey sighed, feeling stupid, but also, relieved.

"I'm sorry… I guess I'm just worried," she said, scrunching up her nose.

"No, really? I couldn't tell," Sam teased, and Stacey swatted him.

She leaned forward to kiss him, successfully pushing all thoughts of Sam and College out of her thoughts for the first time in weeks.


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Stacey slid into a booth at the Rose Bud, slightly out of breath.

"Sorry! Sorry," she said, running her fingers through her hair, trying to neaten up.

Across from her, Mary Anne and Gordon grinned at each other. Next to her, Claudia giggled.

"What?" Stacey asked, annoyed. She hated being the butt of the joke.

"Nothing," Mary Anne and Gordon said at the same time, causing Stacey to roll her eyes. Claudia cleared her throat.

"How did yesterday go?" she asked, raising an eyebrow seductively.

Stacey frowned, remembering saying good bye to Sam. "How do you think it went?" she said glumly, "It was awful. He's gone," she stated, looking down at the salt shaker she had picked up.

Stacey felt Claudia place a hand on her arm, and looked up. Her friends weren't smiling now, but looking at her sympathetically. Stacey put the shaker down, and shook her head, "I'm sorry, you guys. I didn't mean to take it out on you. It's just that…" she frowned, not really wanting to voice her worries. Her friends would just tell her she was worrying over nothing that Sam loved her, and everything would be okay. And if she disagreed, they'd keep going around in circles. It just wasn't worth it.

"It's hard, being away from him. I miss him already," she said, biting her lip.

Gordon and Mary Anne exchanged a look, one which she tried to ignore. Those two knew nothing about being separated from the one you loved.

"Anyway," she said, before anyone else could say something, "we'll e-mail, and he's going to call me tonight."

She picked up a menu, and quickly changed the subject before anyone else could say a word, "what time does Erika get back?"

Claudia answered straight away, "this afternoon, at three," she said excitedly. Claudia had missed her best friend like crazy, and couldn't wait to see her.

"You're coming with us to pick her up, right?" Claudia asked Stacey.

Stacey nodded, "yeah," she replied, thinking, _it's not like I have anything better to do._

She immediately felt guilty. Erika was her friend too, and she hadn't seen her since summer began. She was looking forward to seeing her; it's just that Erika returning reminded her Sam was gone. But then, to be fair, pretty much everything did.

Taking a deep breath, she fixed her face into a smile, "is Howie coming?" she asked Claudia, who scoffed.

"Like he'd miss it. I'm sure he's there already, waiting for her," she said, giggling.

"I'm still so jealous," Mary Anne sighed, "a summer in Paris. Even if she did spend the whole time baking."

Gordon nodded, as usual, agreeing with Mary Anne, "I wonder if she got me the beret I asked for," he said, just as the waitress came over to take their orders.

Once they had been placed, Stacey sat back, fiddling with the straw in the water glass the waitress had put down, "you don't think she… met anyone, do you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Mary Anne looked surprised, but Gordon grinned, "like a hot Frenchman?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Stacey laughed, but Claudia was shaking her head, "she didn't. The e-mail I got from her two days ago was full of Howie this, Howie that," she frowned, "those two are more joined at the hip than Stacey and-" She froze, like a dear caught in headlights, and shot Stacey an apologetic look.

Stacey ignored this remark, instead casting a quick glance around the restaurant. Spotting some familiar faces across the room, she grimaced, "Ew, Gray alert," she said, wrinkling up her nose.

Seated across the room were Alan Gray, Cary Retlin and Pete Black, laughing as they shoved food in their mouths and talked.

Claudia leaned over her, peering past Stacey, "Alan's not that bad," she said, defensively.

"Claud, you guys broke up over a year ago. He may have been okay then, but he doesn't seem to have changed any, and still appears as immature as an eight grader," she said frankly. Claudia shrugged dismissively, and Stacey stole a look at Mary Anne for support, and was surprised to see Mary Anne still staring over at the boys table, appearing to have not heard anything that had just been said. She shot Gordon a look, and he grinned at her, before clicking his fingers in front of Mary Anne's face.

She came to quickly, looking at him surprised.

"What?" she asked innocently.

Gordon and Stacey broke into giggles, with Claudia looking confused.

"Nothing Mare," Gordon said, wrapping an arm around his best friend, and kissing the top of her head.


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Stacey glumly sat picking at her droopy salad, waiting for her friends to arrive and join her. She hadn't spoken to Sam since he'd left, although he had written back to the one text message she'd sent him. She didn't want to appear clingy, or like she was checking up on him, so she'd only contacted him the one time, and through text, hoping he might call her in response. He hadn't. '_Yeah, it's gr8, havin a blast_' wasn't the response she'd expected.

Stacey looked around the lunch room as people started filing in, taking note of who was sitting with whom. Everything looked about the same as last year, except Sam wasn't here, and Stacey didn't have the 'older boyfriend' factor anymore. Well, not as far as anyone else was concerned.

Stacey waved to her old friend, Kristy Thomas, who sat down at her usual lunch table. Kristy was Sam's sister, and actually how Stacey had meet Sam, years ago. Stacey knew that before long, Kristy would be joined by her jock friends, namely Abby Stevenson and Bea Foster, and possibly Bea's boyfriend Logan Bruno. Logan used to date Mary Anne, and although Stacey didn't really know Bea, she knew enough about her to wonder how Logan could date someone so very different from Mary Anne.

Her gaze shifted, and wondered over to the table that Logan would sit at if he didn't join Bea. Peter Hayes, Lew Greenburg and Austin Bentley were already there. She knew they would be joined by the rest of the football team eventually. The SHS football team was fairly decent, both at JV and Varsity levels, but they were in no way as good, or as revered as the Basketball team.

_And you can tell it too_, Stacey thought.

While the football players were mainly nice guys, albeit a little football obsessed, the basketball guys were pretty much the same as they'd been back at SMS. Stars. Stacey hadn't really had anything to do with any of them since middle school, when she'd briefly dated one of the players, Robert Brewster. Back then, he'd been a nice guy. Now he was dating Sheila MacGregor, and Stacey could only imagine how that had changed him. Sheila was a cheerleader, and although Stacey had once been friendly with her, they hadn't spoken in almost two years. Sheila's friends and squad members were already at the table, and wearing their cheerleading uniforms, as they always did on the first day. Margie Green, Darcy Redmond and Penny Weller would soon be joined by Corinne Baker, who was probably off somewhere making out with her boyfriend, Malik Jaffrey. Stacey's eyes stopped briefly on Jacqui Grant, who despite her best efforts, still didn't look one hundred percent comfortable in her cheerleading uniform, and without her piercings. But Stacey supposed Jacqui had her own reasons for joining the squad. Stacey watched as RJ Blaser joined the group, placing a hand on Darcy's back affectionately.

It was quite absurd how the basketball players and cheerleaders seemed to only date each other, sometimes dating one another's exes. Stacey didn't see how it could not cause problems, but apparently, it didn't. Or, if it did, you just weren't part of 'the group' anymore.

For instance, after Andi Gentile, Robert's ex moved away in freshman year, Robert and Sheila started dating. Sheila's ex Marty Bukowski obviously didn't like it, and although he was still a basketball player, Stacey never saw him with the other guys.

Apart from Wayne McConville and Jacqui Grant, who had started seeing each other recently, as far as Stacey could tell the other cheerleaders and basketball players were single, and no one seemed to date anyone outside of the group. It was kind of weird, actually.

Stacey heard a squeal of laughter, and followed it to the table inhabited by the four S's, as Stacey thought of them. Sabrina Bouvier, Susan Taylor, Shawna Riverson and Sue Archer. Those girls were a force to be reckoned with. Sabrina had the fastest mouth at SHS, if anyone double crossed any one of the four of them, she could reduce them to tears within seconds; Stacey had seen her do it once. Sabrina hadn't even raised her voice. Sabrina's tongue, combined with Sue's gossiping abilities made them formidable, Stacey didn't even know what Susan and Shawna could do, and she didn't want to know.

Stacey heard a tray being plunked down beside her, and she came to, realising Erika, Howie and Cary Retlin had joined her. This was surprising. Although Howie was friends with Cary, Alan and Pete, as well as with Erika's friends, the two groups never sat together. Stacey saw the vomit inducing way Howie was looking at Erika, and deduced that he probably convinced Cary to join them so he could spend more time with Erika, while also seeing his friends first day back.

"Hey Stacey," Cary said, inclining his head toward her.

Stacey gave him a small smile, and he twitched his head towards Howie and Erika, who were whispering to one another. The look on his face made Stacey giggle. Cary was something of a rarity at SHS, he wasn't a jock, and his friends included Alan Gray, which said something, yet he still managed to date some of the best looking girls in their class. Stacey knew he'd recently been seeing Susan Taylor, but he was so casual about everything, she had no idea if that was still happening.

Before long, Pete, Alan and Claudia had joined them, and thanks to the boys, their table was becoming quite rowdy.

"Where are Mary Anne and Gordon?" Stacey called down the table to Claudia, who was laughing at some stupid thing Alan had just said, no doubt.

Claudia shrugged, and returned to listening to Alan. Stacey rolled her eyes, and quickly swept her gaze around the cafeteria once more.

She was about to look back at her lunch, when she spotted them, sitting alone, whispering furiously. They seemed determined to avoid looking over at their regular table, and Stacey frowned, wondering what was going on. Before she could say anything to Erika or Claud, the bell rang, signalling the end of lunch.

Stacey stood, with the intention of heading over to Mary Anne and Gordon, but the two were quicker, and were already heading for the exit.

She picked up her tray slowly, and watched them go, feeling like she spent her whole lunch hour alone.


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Stacey glumly sat picking at her droopy salad, waiting for her friends to arrive and join her. She hadn't spoken to Sam since he'd left, although he had written back to the one text message she'd sent him. She didn't want to appear clingy, or like she was checking up on him, so she'd only contacted him the once, and through text, hoping he might call her in response. He hadn't. 'Yeah, it's gr8, havin a blast' wasn't the response she'd expected.

Stacey looked around the lunch room as people started filing in, taking note of who was sitting with whom. Everything looked about the same as last year, except Sam wasn't here, and Stacey didn't have the 'older boyfriend' factor anymore. Well, not as far as anyone else was concerned.

Stacey waved to her old friend, Kristy Thomas, who sat down at her usual lunch table. Kristy was Sam's sister, and actually how Stacey had meet Sam, all of four years ago. Stacey knew that before long, Kristy would be joined by her jock friends, namely Abby Stevenson and Bea Foster, and possibly Bea's boyfriend Logan Bruno. Logan used to date Mary Anne, Stacey recalled, and although she didn't really know Bea, she knew enough about her to wonder how Logan could date someone so very different from Mary Anne.

Her gaze shifted, and wondered over to the table that Logan would sit at if he didn't join Bea. Peter Hayes, Lew Greenburg and Austin Bentley were already there. She knew they would be joined by the rest of the football team eventually. The SHS football team was fairly decent, both at JV and Varsity levels, but they were in no way as good, or as revered as the Basketball team.

And you could tell it too, Stacey thought.

While the football players were nice guys, albeit a little football obsessed, the basketball guys were much the same as they'd been back at SMS. Stars. Stacey hadn't really had anything to do with any of them since middle school, when she'd briefly dated one of the players, Robert Brewster. Back then, he'd been a nice guy. Now he was dating Sheila MacGregor, and hadn't spoken to her in over a year. Sheila was a cheerleader, and although Stacey had once been friendly with her, they hadn't spoken in almost two years. Sheila's friends and squad members were already at the table, and wearing their cheerleading uniforms, as they always did on the first day. Margie Green, Darcy Redmond, Jacqui Grant and Penny Weller would soon be joined by Corinne Baker, who was probably off somewhere making out with her boyfriend, Malik Jaffrey.

It was quite absurd how the basketball players and cheerleaders seemed to only date each other, sometimes dating one another's ex's. Stacey didn't see how it could not cause problems, but apparently, it didn't. Or, if it did, you just weren't part of 'the group' anymore.

For instance, after Andi Gentile, Robert's ex moved away in Freshman year, Robert and Sheila started dating. Sheila's ex, Marty Bukowski obviously didn't like it, and although he was still a basketball player, Stacey never saw him with the other guys.

Apart from Wayne McConville and Jacqui Grant, who had started seeing each other recently, as far as Stacey could tell, the other cheerleaders and basketball players were single, and no one seemed to date anyone outside of the group.

Stacey heard a squeal of laughter, and followed it to the table inhabited by the four S's, as Stacey thought of them. Sabrina Bouvier, Susan Taylor, Shawna Riverson and Sue Archer. Those girls were a force to be reckoned with. Sabrina had the fastest mouth at SHS, if anyone double crossed anyone of the four of them, she could reduce them to tears within seconds, Stacey had seen her do it once. Sabrina hadn't even raised her voice. Sabrina's tongue, combined with Sue's gossiping abilities made them formidable, Stacey didn't even know what Susan and Shawna could do, and she didn't want to know.

Stacey heard a tray being plunked down beside her, and she came to, realising Erika, Howie and Cary Retlin had joined her. This was surprising. Although Howie was friends with Cary, Alan and Pete, as well as with Erika's friends, the two groups never sat together. Stacey saw the vomit inducing way Howie was looking at Erika, and deduced that he probably convinced Cary to join them so he could spend more time with Erika, while also seeing his friends first day back.

"Hey Stace." Cary said, inclining his head toward her.

Stacey gave him a small smile, and he twitched his head towards Howie and Erika, who were whispering to one another. The look on his face made Stacey giggle. Cary was something of a rarity at SHS, he wasn't a jock, his friends included Alan Gray, which said something. Yet, he still managed to date some of the best looking girls in their class. Stacey knew he'd recently been seeing Shawna Riverson, but he was so casual about everything, she had no idea if that was still happening.

Before long, Pete, Alan and Claudia had joined them, and thanks to the boys, their table was becoming quite rowdy.

"Where's Mary Anne and Gordon?" Stacey called down the table to Claudia, who was laughing at some stupid thing Alan had just said, no doubt.

Claudia shrugged, and returned to listening to Alan.

Stacey quickly swept her gaze around the cafeteria once more.

She was about to look back at her lunch, when she spotted them, sitting by themselves, whispering furiously. They seemed determined to avoid looking over at their regular table, and Stacey frowned, wondering what was going on. Before she could say anything to Erika or Claud, the bell rang, signalling the end of lunch.

Stacey stood, with the intention of heading over to Mary Anne and Gordon, but the two were quicker, and were already heading for the exit.


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

"… I mean, the guy was wearing black shoes with a brown belt, you know? Who is he to judge what I was wearing?" Gordon exclaimed, as he and Mary Anne headed toward their normal lunch table.

"Mare?" he asked, realising Mary Anne hadn't replied to his little story, and instead, had stopped short right in front of him, looking quite pale.

Gordon followed his best friends gaze right to their regular table. He raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

"What are Pete, Alan and Cary doing sitting there?" he wondered aloud.

Instead of answering him, Mary Anne spun quickly, and headed off in the opposite direction. Puzzled, Gordon followed after her, and sat across from her at the table she had chosen.

"What is up with you?" he asked, amused, although he had a sneaking suspicion he knew what was going on.

Mary Anne shook her head, still looking quite pale.

Gordon looked back over his shoulder, to where the rest of their friends now sat, "is it the completely over the top hetero display of affection? 'Cause, you know Howrica are always like that," he said, scrunching up his nose in distaste.

Mary Anne, still silent, shook her head.

Gordon glanced back over his shoulder, "is it Claudia's outfit? I mean, she told me pink and green work together, but I just don't see it…" he shook his head with mock disgust.

Mary Anne frowned slightly at him, and Gordon waited for her to chastise him.

She didn't.

"Alan's not shoving yellow M and M's in his-" he started, but Mary Anne cut him off, "no! It's not that," she said, shuddering at the thought.

Gordon glanced over his shoulder again, before looking back to Mary Anne. His shy, beautiful, sweet best friend. How he would torture her.

"Oh sweet mother of all things straight, you like him, don't you?" he asked her with a grin.

Mary Anne just lowered her face into her hands.

"Stranger things have happened, you know," he said gently, and she slowly raised her head again.

"You don't think it's insane?" she whispered, her face slightly flushed.

"No! In fact, I think you two would be cute together. I always thought you'd make a great first lady," Gordon assured her.

Mary Anne looked at him confused, "who are you talking about?"

Gordon furrowed his brow, "Pete… It is Peter right? Tell me it's Pete!" he said dramatically.

Mary Anne shook her head.

"Alan Gray? What is it with you girls and Alan Gray?" Gordon hissed, throwing his hands up.

Mary Anne glared at him. "Not Alan!" she said through clenched teeth.

Gordon's jaw dropped.

"Oh… please no Mare. Tell me it's Alan. Heck, tell me its Alexander black-shoes, brown-belt! Any one but…" he lowered his voice dramatically, "Casanova Retlin."

Mary Anne leaned over and swatted him on the shoulder, "Cary's not like that!" she said, frowning at him, "you don't even know him Gordy."

Gordon nodded, "because Casanova won't give old-'has a wang'-me a second look," he frowned. "Maybe if I got all dragged up…" he joked, trailing off.

Mary Anne swatted him again, "I'm not saying anything would happen. But… Cary's always nice to me Gordy. He's very sweet. And kind. And handsome," she slapped a hand over her mouth, her face flushing.

"Yeah, to you and all the other girls in the school," as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he regretted them. "I'm sorry Mare. It's just that… Cary isn't really the type to settle down, you know? And you're not the type to whore around. I don't see how it could work."

Mary Anne sighed, "I know. But I still can't help it. I-" she broke off mid sentence with a look of horror.

"They're all standing, and Stacey is heading this way. Please Gordy," she said, looking at him pleadingly, "don't tell anyone. _Anyone._"

"I promise," Gordon said solemnly, holding out his pinkie, so the two could shake on it.

"Come on, Stacey's on her way over, let's move," Mary Anne said, grabbing her bag, and leaving a practically untouched lunch on the table.

Gordon sighed, but followed.

Sometimes he thought he should get a guy best friend. A lot less drama.

_But I'd probably fall for him,_ he reasoned, chasing after Mary Anne.

_Mmm… Maybe then I'd finally have a boyfriend._


	6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Stacey put the carefully folded blouse on it's shelf, and closed her eyes briefly. She'd offered to help her Mom out at her boutique after school mainly to fight the impulse to call Sam up and find out why he hadn't sent her more than a handful of texts since he left for College. But folding clothes hadn't turned out to be as much fun as one would think, and Stacey was going crazy imagining possible scenarios.

"Stacey?" She heard someone call from behind her, and she whipped around almost jumping out of her skin, only to find Austin Bentley looking at her, amused.

"You know, those things can really hurt if they whip you too hard," he joked, rubbing his arm where the scarf had touched him gently.

Stacey raised one eyebrow at him and grinned, "and I suppose you know from experience?" she joked back, before biting her lip. She didn't normally make such flirty jokes, but Austin was a good friend, and it had just slipped out.

"Stacey, Stacey… You know I don't kiss and tell," he told her, smiling warmly. Stacey wondered whether he was thinking back to a time in freshman year, right before she and Sam had gotten back together, when they had kissed during a game of 'seven minutes in Heaven'. She blushed slightly remembering it, and hoped Austin wouldn't notice.

"So, did you need some help picking out a new blouse?" She asked, continuing the joking around, and also changing the subject.

Austin grinned sheepishly, and glanced around, "something like that. It's my Mom's birthday in two weeks," he told her, "and I have no clue what to get her."

Stacey smiled, and looped one arm around his, "you've definitely come to the right place," she said, her saleswoman instinct kicking in.

"What colours does she wear?" she asked, leading him over to a new display of jewellery.

After twenty minutes of Austin seeming clueless as to what colours and designs his mother liked, Stacey finally lead him over the register, a light blue silk scarf in her hands.

"It's really beautiful Austin," Stacey said, wrapping it carefully in tissue paper, "one of my favourites, actually," she told him honestly.

"It does match your eyes," Austin told her, before laughing, "not that that's why I picked it… It's my mother's favourite colour," he told her, pulling out his wallet.

"Right," Stacey said, smiling as she reached over to take his bank card. She dropped it almost straight away, and picked it up, feeling frazzled.

"I'm all fingers today, it's so weird," she said, putting the transaction through. She handed him back his card, and the bag she'd carefully put the scarf in, and gave him one last smile.

"I'll see you in English tomorrow?" she asked, looking briefly over his shoulder as her mother walked up behind Austin.

"See you then," Austin said, putting his wallet back in his pocket and giving her a wave.

"Bye Ms Spencer," he said, smiling at Maureen, before turning and leaving.

"Ms Spencer?" Maureen said, watching him go before turning to Stacey, "I always liked Austin," she joked. Stacey knew her Mom didn't mind when her friends forgot and called her 'Mrs McGill', but she was always pleased when they remembered.

"Austin's great," Stacey said, "_and_ he just bought one of the new silk scarves for his mother," Stacey said, wiggling her eyebrows at her mother.

"Excellent," Maureen said, walking around behind the counter.

"So," Stacey said, heading back over to what she'd been doing before Austin had entered, "Starbucks have a massive line this afternoon?" she asked, picking up a sparkly black blouse.

"No, why?" Maureen said, looking at Stacey blankly.

"Because you were gone for about forty minutes," Stacey said, looking over at her mother, "and you didn't bring me back my peppermint tea," she pointed out.

"Oh, uh, I forgot about your tea, sorry. And I drank my latte there," Maureen said quickly, looking down and fidgeting with the cash register.

Stacey frowned, but let it go. She continued folding, but her folding haze was soon interrupted by a text alert. She looked up quickly, her heart hammering. It was Sam, it had to be Sam. She moved quickly to her handbag, searching for her phone.

Nothing. No new messages. Was she imagining getting text messages now? Was she really that desperate to hear from him?

"Hey Mom, did you hear-" Stacey started to ask, but stopped short when she saw her mother grinning at something on her phone.

She walked over, curious. Her mother _never_ got texts. She didn't even know her mother know how _to_ text.

"Did you get a text?" she asked, getting closer to her mother for a look. Maureen quickly slipped her phone into her pocket.

"Hmm?" she said, as though she hadn't heard Stacey.

"I heard the text alert. Was it you?" Stacey asked, not letting it go.

"What? Oh, yes," Maureen said, moving from behind the counter and going to the boutique door.

"I think we should close a little early today," she said, flipping the open sign to say 'closed'.

"Who was it from?" Stacey said, frowning. Something was going on, her mother never closed early, or took 40 minute coffee breaks.

"Just a friend Stacey," Maureen said, in a tone that said 'drop it'.

Glaring at her mother, Stacey went and picked up her bag.

"I guess you don't need me," she said, heading to the door, "I'll see you at home."

Before her mother could say anything, Stacey opened the door and left, fuming.

Every one seemed to be pulling away from her. First Sam, then Mary Anne and Gordon, now her own mother.


End file.
